A professor straight up dies in the new Pokémon Legends: Arceus trailer

The Pokémon Company released a new teaser trailer for Pokémon Legends: Arceus, and it’s causing a bit of concern. The 2-minute video features found footage of an unknown professor’s trek through a snowy wilderness as he attempts to document pokémon using a strange device he’s found.

The professor — who will probably become the fandom’s newest zaddy because he sounds really cute — can’t contain his excitement as he stumbles on a sneeze of snorunts. But because of this man’s gleeful disregard for his own safety approaching dangerous (but oh so cute) animals in their natural habitats, it’s easy to see what happens next. The professor makes his way deep into a forest where he spots what he thinks is a zorua and zoroark. Suddenly, he’s struck...

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Amazon warehouse workers in Staten Island are filing for a federal union election

Amazon workers may get a chance to vote to form a union | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Workers at Amazon’s warehouses in Staten Island, New York are preparing to file for a union election with the National Labor Relations Board on October 25th, after getting signatures on union authorization cards from more than 2,000 workers.

The Amazon Labor Union (ALU) is an independent group of employees that has been trying to organize workers at four Amazon warehouses in Staten Island. It’s led by former Amazon worker Christian Smalls, who was fired in March after he helped organize a walkout at the company’s JFK8 warehouse to protest unsafe working conditions during the pandemic. Amazon has said Smalls was fired for violating safety regulations.

“This is truly a remarkable historical moment for all Amazon workers all over the...

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Donald Trump’s new social media SPAC, explained

Photo by Shealah Craighead / The White House

In his latest attempt to return to the social media spotlight, Donald Trump is now turning to a current darling of the startup world: the special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC.

Trump announced Wednesday night that he has a new company called Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG) and that he would be merging this new company with a SPAC called Digital World Acquisition Company (DWAC). If completed, the deal would turn Trump’s new media company into one that’s publicly traded on the Nasdaq. And it would give TMTG enough money to get a new Twitter clone off the ground called “Truth.”

The surprise deal is already turning DWAC into a meme stock, and it raises a fair number of questions.

Wait, what’s a SPAC?

Briefly, SPACs are shell...

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Google shares its commitment to Matter, promises future interoperability between smart home platforms

Google’s Nest Hub 2nd Gen has a Thread radio built-in that will be updated in 2022 to enable Matter support. | Photo by Dan Seifert / The Verge

Google gave a glimpse into how the new smart home standard Matter might actually work in our smart homes today, and it’s looking pretty exciting. At its Google Smart Home Developer Summit, the company announced new tools to help developers build devices that work with both Google Home, the new connectivity standard Matter, and across any other Matter-complaint ecosystems. This means that, yes — one day, very soon — the (new) Nest Thermostat could work in the Apple Home app without the need for Home Assistant or other workarounds. And if those two can work together, well, anyone can.

Due to arrive next year, Matter is an open smart home application protocol that promises to make smart home devices talk to each other no matter who made...

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Google details extensive phishing campaign targeting YouTubers

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Google put out a report detailing a phishing campaign directed at YouTubers, which involved around 15,000 fake accounts and over a million messages to targets. The phishing attempts were carried out by multiple hackers, and the company says it’s recovered around 4,000 accounts since late 2019. The attackers weren’t just trying to get the creators to put their password into a fake website, though — they were trying to infect their computer with malware that would steal their login cookies, which is a much more intensive attack than sending a link and waiting for someone to get sloppy with their passwords.

YouTube doesn’t publicly say who was recruiting the hackers, only that they were using Russian-language forums to advertise. The...

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Among Us is coming to Xbox, PlayStation, and Xbox Game Pass on December 14th

Among Us is arriving on Xbox and PlayStation on December 14th. The popular social deduction game will also launch on Xbox Game Pass on the same day and be available on Xbox One, Xbox Series S / X, PS4, and PS5 consoles. The announcement comes months after Sony confirmed Among Us was coming to its PlayStation consoles this year.

Just like on other platforms, Among Us will support crossplay and online multiplayer across mobile, PC, and now consoles. The only difference between the two console versions is PlayStation players will get access to exclusive _Ratchet & Clank-_themed cosmetics. There’s a skin and hat to make your character look like Ratchet, and a pet that looks like Clank.

Among Us was a huge hit during the early stages of the...

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Regulators demand more info about tech payment systems

CFBP Director Rohit Chopra

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has issued a series of information-gathering orders on the business practices of major digital payments systems. Orders were issued to Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, PayPal, and Square, the bureau said in an announcement on Thursday morning. Chinese pay systems operated by WeChat and AliPay will also be studied but are not subject to any CFBP orders.

Issued as part of the CFPB’s investigative authority, the orders are not an indication of specific wrongdoing, but they suggest the CFBP will be taking a more active role in regulating tech companies’ consumer products in the future. In particular, they are meant to root out any data collection or anti-competitive conduct that may have not yet come...

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Google lowers Play Store fees for subscriptions and music streaming apps

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

As regulatory pressure on the Play Store for Android increases, Google is once again making changes to its business structure. It has announced that more categories of apps will be eligible to pay significantly less than the usual 30 percent fee. The company is announcing that all subscription-based apps will now pay a fee of 15 percent. It’s also says that “ebooks and on-demand music streaming services” will be “eligible” for a fee “as low as 10%.”

Google’s stated reason for the cheaper prices on ebooks and music streaming apps is that “content costs account for the majority of sales” and that the rates “recognize industry economics of media content verticals.” It’s unstated but also surely true that regulatory pressure and public...

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Google will make it easier to separate your work and personal life on Android

Image: Google

Google’s Work Profile tool for Android, which lets you hide your work apps and data with the flip of a switch and keeps your personal phone use safe from your company, will be coming to more users next year. According to a blog post from the company, currently, the feature is limited to phones that your organization manages, but Google says it’ll start to become available to people using Google Workspace in 2022. After that, it’ll branch out with the ultimate goal of letting anyone using Android for work flip a switch to make their business apps disappear.

The ability to turn off work, especially when many of us are working remotely, is sorely needed. My colleague Monica Chin recently wrote a great argument for why you should have a...

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Twitter bought a messaging app to help make DMs and Communities better

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

In an effort to strengthen its Communities, Twitter has acquired Sphere, a group chat app founded in 2016 that aims to make conversations more interactive and organized. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Sphere’s website describes the app as a place that “transforms groups into vibrant communities.”

Sphere was co-founded in 2016 by Nick D’Aloisio, a British computer programmer turned serial entrepreneur. Initially, it was an app for real-time questions and answers but later evolved into a hub for group chats (via CNBC). During Sphere’s standalone existence, it aimed to bring organization to group conversations on mobile. As shown on Sphere’s website, some of its features included self-clearing feeds, auto-archiving, and call-outs...

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Critics and supporters come out in force to discuss SpaceX’s plans to launch from South Texas

SpaceX stacking its Starship spacecraft on top of a Super Heavy booster at the company’s launch site in Boca Chica, Texas. | Image: SpaceX

This week, a vibrant mixture of supporters and critics voiced their opinions about SpaceX’s launch operations in Boca Chica, Texas during virtual town halls — input that will be considered as the government decides the company’s future in the state. More than one hundred people took the time to give their thoughts during the meetings on Monday and Wednesday, with opinions ranging from effusive praise of the company to concerns over SpaceX’s impact on the region’s communities and environment.

The lengthy town halls were hosted by the Federal Aviation Administration, which is currently evaluating whether to give SpaceX a license to launch the company’s massive new Starship rocket out of Boca Chica. SpaceX has been building and testing...

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Razer gaming peripherals are discounted at Best Buy and Amazon today

Razer products offer a lot for those that love RGB accent lighting, with software to sync it all together. | Image: Razer

Best Buy’s deal of the day for today features a range of Razer products worth considering for any of your gaming or streaming needs, and Amazon is matching or beating some of these prices. If retailers are competing, you’re probably winning.

There are multiple options of keyboards and mice, as well as the top-range webcam from Razer and its compact microphone. For your mechanical keyboard fix, you can go big or small. If you prefer compact, you can pick between black or white versions of Razer’s Huntsman Mini 60-percent boards with clicky optical switches for just $95 at Best Buy or $94 at Amazon. A small-format keyboard might be intimidating at first, with its omission of a number pad and F-keys, but it allows you to keep your hands...

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Apple still won’t mandate vaccines but will require employees to regularly take COVID-19 tests

Dieter Bohn / The Verge

Apple is tightening its COVID-19 policies, requiring that unvaccinated employees (or employees who refuse to disclose their vaccination status) get daily COVID-19 tests to enter its offices, although the company still has yet to require workers to get vaccinated. Vaccinated employees will also have to do regular tests, but only once a week, Bloomberg reports.

Retail workers at Apple Stores will also have to regularly test, although at a lower rate than other Apple employees: unvaccinated store workers will have to take tests twice per week, with vaccinated workers getting tested once a week.

Google, Microsoft, and Facebook all require in-person employees to be vaccinated

According to Bloomberg, Apple has asked its employees to submit...

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NASA’s tiny electrical aircraft is almost ready for lift-off

NASA’s first electric plane is getting ready for takeoff.

For the last five years, a small team of NASA engineers has been working to convert an Italian Tecnam P2006T aircraft so that it runs only on battery power. The X-57 Maxwell, named after 19th-century Scottish physicist James Clerk Maxwell, recently began high-voltage functional ground testing at the Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, Calif., and is set to take its inaugural flight in the spring of 2022.

That flight, when it happens, will signal a crucial milestone for NASA, which has been tasked by President Joe Biden to focus more of its resources on lessening the impact of climate change.

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson toured Armstrong last week, where he got an...

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Huawei’s Nova 9 is its latest smartphone to launch globally sans Google

Huawei’s Nova 9. | Image: Huawei

Huawei’s Nova 9 is getting a global launch just under a month after the phone was announced for the Chinese market, the company said today. Huawei characterizes the Nova 9 as a “flagship smartphone for the younger generation,” compared to its Mate series (high-tech and premium) and P-series (photography) lineups. Pre-orders open today with pricing starting at €499, and Huawei says the phone will be on sale from November 2nd.

The company also gave an update on the global release status of the P50, the flagship phone Huawei announced for the domestic Chinese market in July. The company says the P50 will release outside of China in 2022, which will come roughly two years after the release of its predecessor, the P40.

Thanks to Huawei’s o...

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Facebook Oversight Board says Facebook wasn’t ‘fully forthcoming’ about Trump ban

Photo by Michele Doying / The Verge

The Facebook Oversight Board says it will review Facebook’s “cross-check” program for high-profile users and criticized it for not disclosing enough information about the program.

In a new transparency report, the Oversight Board — a semi-independent body that reviews Facebook’s moderation process — publicly accepted a Facebook request to review cross-check (sometimes called “XCheck”) and recommend changes. Facebook will also share documents related to reporting from The Wall Street Journal, which described cross-check as a system that “shields millions of VIP users from the company’s normal enforcement process.” The board previously raised concerns about cross-check following the Journal’s report.

“In the board’s view, the team within...

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Roku calls out Google over YouTube contract stalemate

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge

Tensions between Roku and Google spilled over to customers in a new blog posted by the streaming service on Thursday. After months of failed negotiations for Roku to maintain the YouTube app, the company is accusing Google of anti-competitive demands.

Responding to the deadlocked negotiations, Google said that it would end all distribution of YouTube on new Roku devices after December 9th.

In its Thursday blog post, Roku accused Google of making anti-competitive demands in carriage agreements, like requiring Roku to implement a dedicated YouTube search results row in the Roku interface. Roku also alleged that Google overrides music voice search and blocks relevant searches outside of YouTube’s own results while users are in the YouTube...

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Xbox Series S and X get new 512GB and 2TB storage expansion card options

New 2TB and 512GB storage expansion cards for Xbox Series X / S. | Image: Microsoft

Microsoft is announcing new storage expansion card options for the Xbox Series X / S today. Made by Seagate, there will now be a smaller 512GB card priced at $139.99 and a larger 2TB card priced at $399.99. These expandable storage cards slot into the rear of both the Xbox Series X / S to match the internal SSD speed and provide extra storage for games.

The first storage expansion card launched alongside the next-gen Xbox consoles, priced at $219.99 for 1TB of space. That pricing meant the $299 Xbox Series S jumped to nearly $520 if you wanted to add more storage and bring it up to 1.5TB overall. Now there are a variety of options for Xbox Series S owners who want to expand beyond the 512GB of space the console offers.

P...

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How to get more space in your Google storage

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

For many of us, Google storage is the modern-day hard drive. It’s the place where our most important thoughts, documents, and memories reside. But just like with a traditional hard drive, the space isn’t infinite, and running out of room can be a real problem.

By default, Google gives you 15GB of space to use for everything associated with your account. (If you have a paid Google Workspace — formerly G Suite — account, your limit’s likely higher.) That includes content connected to Gmail, Google Drive, and all Google photos (except those saved before June 1st, 2021). Needless to say, data adds up fast.

You can check your current storage status by visiting this page, and if push comes to shove, you can purchase more space there, too, for...

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Uncharted’s first movie trailer is full of very familiar action

After over a decade of development (and seven directors), it seems that Sony’s Uncharted movie is finally, really, truly going to actually come out — and it has the trailer to prove it.

Starring Tom Holland as an incongruously young version of fortune hunter / adventurer / general human punching bag Nathan Drake, Uncharted is set long before the popular video game series, winding the clock back before Drake was a seasoned Indiana Jones knockoff to the start of his career.

It is kind of hard to shake how young Holland looks here compared to his more grizzled video game counterpart, along with what appears to be an identical American accent to his Spider-Man voice in the Marvel films. But Sony will have plenty of time to convince fans to...

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Halo Infinite is getting ray tracing thanks to a Microsoft and AMD partnership

Image: Microsoft

Microsoft has selected AMD as its exclusive PC partner for Halo Infinite. While this means plenty of marketing opportunities, it’s also fostered a closer engineering partnership with AMD that Microsoft says will improve frame rates in the campaign mode and eventually bring ray tracing to the game.

“We’re looking forward to working closely with AMD to bring raytracing to_Halo Infinite_,” says Noah Benesch, a product marketing manager at Xbox. “Raytracing is one our top development priorities post-launch and look forward to sharing more soon.”

It’s not clear if this rules out Microsoft using Nvidia’s DLSS (Deep Learning Super Sampling) technology, but Microsoft does note that AMD is “exceptionally open to us bringing new rendering features...

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TCL’s Verizon tablet is the only one you’ll find with 5G for $399

TCL, the company best known for its affordable Roku-equipped 4K TVs, has a new budget-oriented $399.99 5G tablet — the Tab Pro 5G. The device is available to order via Verizon’s online “Buy More, Save More” promo, which takes $100 off if purchased with a qualifying Android device on a Verizon plan.

Similar to its newer TVs that now offer Google TV in the US, TCL’s Tab Pro 5G continues the company’s trend with a standard set of Google apps... alongside the expected mass of Verizon bloatware.

Image: TCL

The tablet is meant to be held in widescreen.

Tablets with 5G have not entered this price point yet. Verizon also sells the $669.99 Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 FE 5G and the $649 iPad Mini with 5G. However, if you want...

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Microsoft Surface Duo 2 review: Duo-over or strike two?

Microsoft’s second attempt at a folding phone rights a lot of the original’s wrongs, but doesn’t fix everything

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Nvidia’s GeForce Now gets an RTX 3080 upgrade to take on Stadia and xCloud

RTX 3080s are heading to Nvidia’s GeForce Now service. | Image: Nvidia

Nvidia is launching dedicated, low-latency RTX 3080 gaming pods in the cloud before the end of 2021. GeForce Now will offer access to what Nvidia describes as “the most powerful gaming supercomputer ever built,” to stream PC games from Steam and the Epic Games Store to Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, and Android TV devices. Preorders begin today for select members of GeForce Now.

It’s a big moment for game streaming, as it’s rare to get access to machines in the cloud with the latest GPUs, especially one that PC gamers are still struggling to purchase in stores right now. Nvidia is also promising incredibly low latency for these dedicated RTX 3080 pods, with performance that should beat the majority of game consoles, PC gaming rigs, and...

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Facebook Messenger now lets an entire group share an AR experience

Facebook Messenger is adding “group effects” that allow everyone on a video call to participate in the same augmented reality experience at the same time. The effects are available now across Messenger video calls as well as Messenger Rooms, the service’s Zoom-like videoconferencing feature, and are coming soon to Instagram, the company says.

There are over 70 group effects available at launch, including a game where players compete to build a virtual burger, and another where a virtual orange cat photobombs the call. It’s a shift from the service’s existing augmented reality features, which tend to only apply to one participant at a time. Facebook says developers will be able to build more group effects using its Spark AR API from the...

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Dune puts an epic franchise ahead of its epic story

Photo: Warner Bros / Legendary Pictures

Denis Villeneuve’s adaptation wows with scale and scope but is missing an ending

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Thrustmaster’s T248 is a great PS5 racing wheel

Get ready for Gran Turismo 7

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Raspberry Pi temporarily increases Pi 4 price in response to chip shortages

The Raspberry Pi 4. | Image: Raspberry Pi Foundation

In response to supply chain issues, particularly around semiconductors, Raspberry Pi is increasing the price of the version of the Raspberry Pi 4 sold with 2GB of RAM. The increase, which CEO Eben Upton says is the company’s first ever, will see the Pi 4 2GB’s price rise by $10 from $35 to $45. To serve the needs of customers on tighter budgets, the company is reintroducing the 1GB Pi 4 for $35, which was discontinued last year.

“These changes in pricing are not here to stay,” Upton writes. “As global supply chain issues moderate, we’ll keep revisiting this issue, and we want to get pricing back to where it was as fast as we can.” Upton said supply chain challenges are likely to continue through next year, echoing the predictions of...

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Where is Google’s foldable phone? Everything we know so far

Leaks indicate the Pixel Fold may resemble the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip. | Image: Dan Seifert / The Verge

During the “Pixel Fall Launch” event, Google formally launched the new Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro as well as its Pixel Pass. Beyond that, however, the tech giant didn’t divulge much more about other new products — like Google’s first folding phone. Google previously confirmed in 2019 it’s working on prototyping foldable device technology, has applied for patents on foldable screens, and we’ve since reported on a number of leaks suggesting the Pixel Fold might arrive as soon as this year.

For example, Korean industry site TheElec suggested Samsung was going to produce folding OLED panels for the device this very month — and that’s just one of many recent leaks. Here’s a catch-up on everything else we think we know about the Pixel Fold.

The...

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PSA: You can stream Dune a day early on HBO Max

After numerous delays — and considerable vitriol from director Denis Villeneuve himself — Dune is finally about to stream on HBO Max. In fact, it’s arriving a day early: October 21st at 6PM ET / 3PM PT, a rep confirms to The Verge.

Hope you’re hearing soon enough to schedule your watch party! Note that you’ll need to be paying for HBO Max’s $15-a-month ad-free plan, since the $10 plan doesn’t come with day-and-date Warner Bros. movie releases.

We’ve had multiple Dune trailers at this point if you want to know what you’re in for, and you can find two of them embedded below. The Verge’s staff weighed in on the first trailer, and we’ll have a review soon as well.

And if you’d rather watch a 4K restoration of the original cult-classic...

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